The San Antonio Spurs bounced back from their sorry loss to the Dallas Mavericks with a ruthless 39-point thumping of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. They will now look to exact some revenge on the Mavs when they take on Dirk Nowitzki and co. at AT&T Center this coming Friday.
Read on below for a preview of this mouth-watering matchup and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of the game between the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies here.
[sc:NBAArticles ]Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs Betting Preview
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio
When: Friday, March 27, 8:30 PM ET
Line: Dallas Mavericks (+8.5) at San Antonio Spurs (-8.5); total: 205.5 – view all NBA lines
Betting on the Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks finally snapped their two-game losing rut with a morale-boosting 101-94 win Tuesday over the San Antonio Spurs. Monta Ellis starred for the Mavs, scoring a season-high 38 points on 16 of 27 shooting from the field. It was a huge bounce-back game for Ellis who shot a woeful 4 of 22 from the floor in Dallas’ previous loss to Boston on Sunday.
[sc:NBA240banner ]Ellis has been a vital cog to the Mavs’ success this season, averaging a team-best 19.3 points per game. In addition to that, he’s also putting up 4.2 assists, 2.4 rebounds and a team-high 1.93 steals per game. There’s something about the Spurs, though, that makes Ellis go wild.
Through three games with the Spurs this season, Ellis is averaging a whopping 34 PPG. His scoring outburst on Tuesday night was his second consecutive 38-point game against the Spurs. Only one other player has had a pair of 38-point games in a single season against the Spurs during the Gregg Popovich era – his name: Kobe Bryant.
Ellis will look to continue his dominance against the defending champions when they take on the Spurs in a quick rematch later tonight. Knowing Popovich, he will make it a point to make Ellis’ life miserable this around. If that is the case, the onus is on the other Mavs players to step up on the offensive end.
Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons did just that in their last meeting with the Spurs, scoring 15 points apiece. They are averaging 17.3 and 15.6 PPG respectively this season.
The Mavericks are 1-5 SU and 0-6 ATS in their last six road games.
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Betting on the San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs returned to winning ways with a 130-91 trouncing of the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. A total of six players scored in double-figures for the Spurs who moved half a game ahead of the Mavs for sixth place in the Western Conference standings.
They can stretch that advantage even further when they take on Dallas later tonight. For the Spurs to avoid a repeat of their disappointing defeat to the Mavericks a couple of nights ago, they need to get a huge game from their talisman Tony Parker.
Parker led the Spurs in their rout of the Thunder, scoring 21 points and dishing out six assists. Parker scored 10 of his 21 points inside the paint, his seventh game in March with double-digit paint points. Prior to this month, Parker has only scored double-digit points in the paint nine times.
The Spurs need the same aggressiveness from Parker to dissect Dallas’ defense that allows 101.0 PPG this season, 21st in the NBA. Parker had a horrible outing against the Mavs the last time out, scoring just eight points on 3 of 11 shooting. A better shooting night from the French star will greatly improve the Spurs’ chances of getting the all-important win.
Another key to their victory against the Thunder was their much-improved transition offense. The Spurs scored 23 transition points, way above their season-average of 13.6 transition points per game (24th in the NBA). They will need to push the pace once more to avoid losing the season series against the Mavs.
The Spurs are one of the hottest teams in the league right now, going 11-3 since February 27th. Their offense has been the driving force behind this incredible run with the Spurs leading the league in offensive efficiency during this stretch.
The Spurs are 9-1 SU and 4-6 ATS in their last 10 meetings with the Mavs at AT&T Center.
Writer’s Prediction
San Antonio (-8.5) wins, 108-99.
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